HathiTrust Racks Up Fair Use Victory But Heads Back To The Stacks On Preservation Copies - Intellectual Property - United States

"In a much-awaited decision, the Second Circuit held on June 10, 2014, that university libraries are permitted to electronically scan their copyrighted books to (i) create a full-text searchable database, and (ii) provide print-disabled people with access to the copyrighted works. In Authors Guild, Inc. v. HathiTrust, the Court found such uses by the HathiTrust Digital Library (HDL), set up by the HathiTrust -- an organization comprised of colleges, universities and other nonprofit organizations that contributed their book collections to create a massive digital database of over 10 million works -- were protected by the copyright fair use doctrine. The Court remanded on the issue of whether HathiTrust's 'preservation' copies were protected as fair use ..."